Picking his Battles
by gracia.michelle
Summary: Barry has yet another run in with Tony Woodward and the results are not pretty.


Here's another one. Do read and review. Let me know what you think.

"Barry!" a voice rang out loudly through the crowded hall way causing Barry Allen to look up sharply and drop his books in the process. He quickly knelt on the floor and picked them up lest they be trampled by the unruly crowd of high school kids. "Where were you? I've been looking all over for you."

"I got held up in Chemistry class today", Barry answered Iris as he dumped his books into the locker and slammed it shut before any of them could fall out. "What's going on?" he asked as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and shifted a little uncomfortably.

"Nothing", said Iris giving him a suspicious look. "I just thought you'd forgotten that we were supposed to walk home together today."

"If there's anyone prone to forgetfulness it would have to be you", said Barry as the two walked out the school doors. Barry looked up at the bright sky and squinted against the sun. "Didn't the weather report say that it was supposed to rain today?"

"Yes", said Iris, "and that means it won't. Everybody knows that the weather report is always wrong! And what are we a couple of awkward strangers? Why are we talking about the weather?"

"I don't know may be because it's not raining and I hate how hot it is", said Barry with a shrug.

"It's not that hot", said Iris. "You just think it's hot because you insist on wearing that ridiculous sweater all day!"

"It is not a ridiculous sweater", said Barry defending himself. "If I'm not wrong you have one exactly like this."

"Yeah, that's cos Grandma Esther gave it to us and I felt bad about throwing it away", answered Iris, rolling her eyes. The two kept up a lively banter until they reached the front porch. Iris rummaged through her bag until she found the key and opened the door as Barry impatiently shifted from one foot to the other. There was something in his eyes that she couldn't quite put her finger on. She dropped her bag by the door and ran up the stairs. "I'll be down in a minute", she called out as she ran. Barry simply shrugged his shoulders and closed the door behind him. Knowing Iris' minute would last at least 15 minutes, he went ahead to the dinner table and pulled a few books and pencils out of his bag, setting them on the table. He sat down on one of the chairs, setting his bad on the floor and winced when a sharp pain shot through his side. He gingerly pressed against the side of his stomach, hissing as he felt a particularly sore spot. He took a deep breath and got to his feet again, the movement making the pain worse. He stood hovering by the table when he Iris stepped up right behind him.

"What happened to you?" she asked, taking in his pained expression.

"It's nothing", he said holding still, letting the feeling pass. "I'll be down in time to help you for dinner." Barry stooped down to retrieve the bag he had dropped but stopped when the searing pain came back again. Deciding against it, he just left his things on the table and went up to his room. Closing the door, he removed his sweater. He moved in front of a mirror and slowly rolled up his shirt and saw the bright purplish bruise that seemed to be forming. Tony Woodward had really left his mark this time. His stomach just seemed to hurt more with every passing minute.

Weighing his options, Barry went and lay down flat on his bed hoping to fall asleep for at least a little while. He briefly considered going down and getting some pain killers but decided against it when he realised he would have to explain the situation to Iris who would end up telling Joe all about it. If there was anything he could do to avoid one of Joe's lectures, he would do it. And so he closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind, hoping against hope to drift off into sleep.

Minutes later, he heard his door being pushed open rather loudly. "Have you heard of knocking?" he asked, opening his eyes.

Iris stood at the foot of his bed, glaring at him with her hands crossed over her chest. "What happened this time?" she asked him.

"I told you, nothing", he answered, trying to sound convincing.

Iris just sighed and shook her head before walking out of the room again.

"Do you mind closing the door behind you?" he called after her but got no reply. He had absolutely no intention of getting up and closing the door himself so he sunk back into bed and closed his eyes once more and once more, he was interrupted as the bed dipped next to him. He opened his eyes and this time Iris was sitting next to him with a glass of water in one hand and a small pill in the other. She held out the pill to him. Barry gratefully swallowed the pill and washed it down with the water she had brought him. "Thank you", he said as he eased into bed again.

"Are you still not going to tell me what happened?" asked Iris.

"I really don't think there's anything to tell you about", answered Barry with a sigh. "It's just another day, the same story."

"I think I'm going to give Tony a piece of my mind tomorrow", said Iris. She got up and started pacing the room. "This has been going on for far too long."

Barry only gave her a laugh devoid of humour. "Do you really think that's going to make it any better? I'm glad you're on my side but I really don't need you to fight my battles for me. Joe thought me how to fight too remember?"

"And yet you're still Tony's punching bag", said Iris, still seething.

Barry figured the smartest thing he could do was stay quiet until Iris calmed down and that's exactly what he did. Iris for her part paced the room a little longer. "What does he get out of picking on you anyway? Not that I condone violence but why didn't you punch him back anyway?"

When Iris looked at him expectantly, he mumbled, "Three against one isn't a fair fight."

"He has minions?" asked Iris incredulously. "What is he planning on doing after high school? Starting a gang?" She looked back at the bed and noticed that Barry's eyes were closed again. "Does it hurt a lot?" she asked.

"Just a little", he answered, nodding, keeping his eyes closed.

"I want to see how bad it is", said Iris, sitting down next to him on the bed. "There's an ice pack in the fridge. I want to see if you need it."

Barry slowly moved his hand away from his abdomen. Iris leaned forward and lifted the shirt up by the helm. Her face contorted into a grimace when she saw a large bruise that covered a major portion of his stomach. "Barry!" she exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me about this as soon as it happened? This looks awful. Are you sure nothing's broken?"

"Nothing's broken", Barry said in a tone that was meant to reassure her but did nothing to calm Iris' nerves. "It'll probably be better in the morning. I just need to sleep it off."

"Like hell you are", said Iris getting to her feet once again. "I'm going to call my dad and let him know."

"Iris", Barry drew out.

Iris simply glared at him. "Barry Allen, give me one good reason why I shouldn't tell my dad about this?"

"Because you'll just end up worrying him about nothing", he said but Iris wasn't convinced. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, you can tell him when he gets home."

"You're just saying that because you think I'll be asleep by the time he gets home", said Iris.

"Call it wishful thinking", answered Barry with a slight smile.

Iris shook her head at him for what felt like the millionth time since Barry had moved in with them five years ago. "I'm going to get you that ice pack. Don't move until I get back."

"No actually, Iris, I'll come downstairs", said Barry. "We need to get dinner ready."

"I spoke to my dad about it already", answered Iris as she stood at his door. "He said we could order in." When Barry still looked confused she continued, "I called my dad before I came up here. I was pretty sure you'd gotten into a fight and I told him so. He asked me to check on you and order in if you weren't doing too well."

"Of course you did", said Barry. "Iris, I'm fine. I can help get dinner ready."

"You have a bruise that oddly resembles a shoe on your stomach and you're telling me that you're fine?"

"Yes?" the answer came out more like a question than a statement. Iris went back down and was back in a minute with an ice pack.

"Pizza is on the way", she said as she passed him the ice pack. Barry gratefully accepted it from her and gently pressed it against the bruise. He hissed as the extra sensitive skin came into contact with the cool pack. "What happened?" Iris asked again.

Barry sighed audibly. "Tony and his friends are jerks. They just wanted to punch someone and today, I ended up being the unlucky one that crossed their path."

"Is that all it was?" she asked him.

"Yes", he answered, firmly. He slid back into his bed and asked, "Do you mind if I slept for a little bit until the pizza arrives?"

"Yeah", answered Iris. "I'll wake you up when it's here." She got to her feet and spared him one last penetrating glance but seeing him closing his eyes, she knew the battle was lost. Tony was a special kind of bully – he didn't just beat up kids in school, he also found a way to torment them and make school hell for them. Iris was convinced that there was more to the story but if Barry didn't want to talk to her about it, there was nothing she could do. So, she simply stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Barry's eyes sprung open as soon as he heard the door close and breathed a sigh of relief. He knew he could tell Iris anything but he just didn't want to talk to her about this; not right then. Instead he let his thoughts wander to that evening as tears clouded his view of the ceiling.

Barry exited his Chemistry class room looking through his bag, checking to make sure that he hadn't left anything behind. He made a bee line to his locker where he knew Iris would be waiting for him, complaining about how he was late again. But before he could take more than a couple of steps forward, he heard a familiar voice calling his name. Barry instinctively spun around when he knew he should have just kept walking through the crowded hall way. Avoidance was the best solution to the problem that was Tony Woodward. Instead, he stood rooted to the spot as if by some unseen force until Tony and his friends were standing right in front of him. "I'd like you to introduce you to my friends", he said. Barry noticed that the hallway was starting to get empty as the students headed out of the school. "This is the freak that I was telling you about", Tony said to his friends. "You know the one whose dad's in prison for killing his mom." He heard the other three boys snicker and said, "He's innocent", before he could even stop himself.

"My mom told me about it", said Tony. "It was all over the papers when it happened. You told the police that a man in yellow lightning killed her. You do know how ridiculous that sounds, right?"

He did but that didn't make it any less true. As the corridor became completely empty, he answered "Just leave me alone" and began to walk away from Tony and his gang until he felt a strong grip on his arm pulling him backward. He was forced to turn around as a fist connected with his face. It wasn't an especially hard punch, now that he thought of it; it hadn't even left a bruise. But at that moment, he had been taken by surprise and he stumbled to the floor. Before he could get back up, Tony kicked him in his stomach and then used his foot to keep him pinned to the floor. "Or what?" he asked. "Are you going to kill me like your dad killed your mom?"

Barry didn't respond but tried to push the foot off his stomach with his hands but Tony only increased the pressure. "What are you going to do now? Are you going to start crying for mommy? She's not going to be able to hear you, you know?" Just then they heard footsteps approaching. From the sound, he could tell it was most likely a teacher in high heels. "Sorry, I couldn't get it to last longer" said Tony as he signalled his gang to leave. Barry had quickly gathered his things and dashed out as fast as he could.


End file.
